The present disclosure is directed towards systems and method for providing referrals for providers of various products to users of a social networking system. In particular, the systems and methods described herein involve receiving a message from a user of a social networking system intended for a plurality of recipients and determining that the message includes a request for a referral of a product of a product. In addition, the systems and methods include providing one or more referred providers to the user and enabling the user to select an option that facilitates communication between the user and one or more of the referred providers.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method comprising: receiving, from a client device associated with a user of a social networking system, a message intended for a plurality of users of the social networking system associated with the user; providing, for display on the client device, the message within a graphical user interface comprising a social networking newsfeed; determining, by at least one processor, that the message comprises a request for a referral of a provider of a product; providing, for display on the client device, a confirmation request embedded within the graphical user interface, the confirmation request querying the user to confirm that the message comprises the request for the referral; analyzing a plurality of providers of the product to generate customized ratings of the plurality of providers for the user; identifying, by the at least one processor, suggested providers to refer to the user based on the customized ratings; and based on receiving a confirmation from the user and identifying the suggested providers, generating for display on the client device, an additional graphical user interface comprising: an icon, identifying information, and an interactive element for each of one or more of the suggested providers, wherein each interactive element is selectable to identify the corresponding suggested provider as a recipient suggested provider; and a single interactive messaging element for the user to input an inquiry message to be sent simultaneously via the social networking system, to each recipient suggested provider.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: identifying the plurality of providers corresponding to a location nearby a location for the user; and identifying the suggested providers to refer to the user from the plurality of providers corresponding to the location nearby the location for the user.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the plurality of providers of the product to generate the customized ratings comprises determining referral ratings for the plurality of providers based on a relationship within the social networking system between the user and each of the plurality of providers.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the plurality of providers of the product to generate the customized ratings comprises determining referral ratings for the plurality of providers based on a relationship within the social networking system between a recipient of the message and each of the plurality of providers.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the plurality of providers of the product to generate the customized ratings comprises determining referral ratings for the plurality of providers based on a level of activity for each of the plurality of providers with one or more users of the social networking system.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising determining the level of activity by determining a frequency that each of the plurality of providers have communicated with the one or more users of the social networking system.
7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising determining the level of activity by determining a recency that each of the plurality of providers have communicated with the one or more users of the social networking system.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: posting, via the social networking system, the message for access by the plurality of users; and identifying a user-referred provider of the product from a comment to the posted message from a user of the plurality of users.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying within the additional graphical user interface a first suggested provider as a sponsored provider of the product and a second suggested provider as a user-referred provider of the product.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: identifying a contact of the user within the social networking system who previously purchased the product from a suggested provider of the plurality of providers; and providing an indication for display on the client device that the contact previously purchased the product from the suggested provider.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the message comprises the request for the referral comprises applying natural language processing to the message to identify key words indicating an intent to solicit referrals.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating the additional graphical user interface further comprising a message option to simultaneously send the inquiry message to each recipient suggested provider; receiving an indication of a selection by the user of the message option; and simultaneously sending the inquiry message to each recipient suggested provider via the social networking system.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining that a period of time has elapsed since receiving the message comprising the request for the referral; providing, via a further graphical user interface of the client device: an option for the user to provide feedback associated with an experience of the user with a suggested provider from the suggested providers; and an alternative option to identify a provider not among the suggested providers from whom the user purchased the product.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining that the user has purchased the product from a first provider of the suggested providers; providing, via a further graphical user interface, an option for the user to provide feedback associated with an experience of the user with the first provider; and based on the feedback associated with the experience of the user with the first provider, generating a customized rating of the first provider for another user that is associated with the user via the social networking system.
15. A system comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: receive, from a client device associated with a user of a social networking system, a message intended for a plurality of users of the social networking system associated with the user; provide, for display on the client device, the message within a graphical user interface comprising a social networking newsfeed; determine that the message comprises a request for a referral of a provider of a product; provide, for display on the client device, a confirmation request embedded within the graphical user interface, the confirmation request querying the user to confirm that the message comprises the request for the referral; analyze a plurality of providers of the product to generate customized ratings of the plurality of providers for the user; identify suggested providers to refer to the user based on the customized ratings; and based on receiving a confirmation from the user and identifying the suggested providers, generate, for display on the client device, an additional graphical user interface comprising: an icon, identifying information, and an interactive element for each of the one or more of the suggested providers, wherein each interactive element is selectable to identify the corresponding suggested provider as a recipient suggested provider; and a single interactive messaging element for the user to input an inquiry message to be sent simultaneously, via the social networking system, to each recipient suggested provider.
16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to analyze the plurality of providers of the product to generate customized ratings by determining referral ratings for the plurality of providers based on a relationship within the social networking system between the user and each of the plurality of providers, a relationship within the social networking system between a recipient of the message and each of the plurality of providers, and a level of activity for each of the plurality of providers with the social networking system.
17. The system of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: post, via the social networking system, the message for access by the plurality of users; identify a user-referred provider of the product from a comment to the posted message from a recipient of the message among the plurality of users; identify a sponsored provider of the product; and generate the additional graphical user interface comprising the interactive element for each of the one or more of the suggested providers by providing a first interactive element for the user-referred provider and a second interactive element for the sponsored provider.
18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computer system to: receive, from a client device associated with a user of a social networking system, a message intended for a plurality of users of the social networking system associated with the user; provide, for display on the client device, the message within a graphical user interface comprising a social networking newsfeed; determine that the message comprises a request for a referral of a provider of a product; provide, for display on the client device, a confirmation request embedded within the graphical user interface, the confirmation request querying the user to confirm that the message comprises the request for the referral; analyze a plurality of providers of the product to generate customized ratings of the plurality of providers for the user; identify suggested providers to refer to the user based on the customized ratings; and based on receiving a confirmation from the user and identifying the suggested providers, generate, for display on the client device, an additional graphical user interface comprising: an icon, identifying information, and an interactive element for each of one or more of the suggested providers, wherein each interactive element is selectable to identify the corresponding suggested provider as a recipient suggested provider; and a single interactive messaging element for the user to input an inquiry message to be sent simultaneously, via the social networking system, to each recipient suggested provider.
19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to analyze the plurality of providers of the product to generate the customized ratings by determining referral ratings for the plurality of providers based on a relationship within the social networking system between the user and each of the plurality of providers, a relationship within the social networking system between a recipient of the message and each of the plurality of providers, and a level of activity for each of the plurality of providers with the social networking system.
20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer system to: post, via the social networking system, the message for access by the plurality of users; identify a user-referred provider of the product from a comment to the posted message from a recipient of the message among the plurality of users; identify a sponsored provider of the product; and generate the additional graphical user interface comprising the interactive element for each of the one or more of the suggested providers by providing a first interactive element for the user-referred provider and a second interactive element for the sponsored provider.
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December 22, 2016
December 29, 2020
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